MPhil Health Humanities

COURSE OVERVIEW

Our MPhil/PhD programme in Health Humanities offers the opportunity to study with world-leading academics in the health humanities, researching issues related to health and illness from the humanities and social sciences in the exciting research community at the College of Human and Health Sciences.

This course explores the concepts and methods of history, literature and the visual arts to the analysis of health and healthcare. Disability history is a particular area of expertise, with an oral history of people affected by the drug, thalidomide, currently underway. Students are exploring a variety of areas within these fields ranging from narratives of childbirth to images of disability in the post-war English language literature of Wales.

Programme Summary

This MPhil in Health Humanities at Swansea will enable you to undertake a substantial project led by your own interests. It is a highly respected qualification which can present a career in academia or a wider scope for employment in fields such as education, government or the private sector. A thesis of 60,000 words will be submitted for assessment demonstrating original research with a substantive contribution to the subject area. The Masters is examined following an oral examination of the thesis (a viva voce examination or viva). You will acquire research skills for high-level work and skills and training programmes are available on campus for further support. There will be an opportunity to deliver presentations to research students and staff at departmental seminars and conferences.

Programme Aims

This Masters programme will provide students with:

1. The opportunity to conduct high quality postgraduate research in a world leading research environment.
2. Key skills needed to undertake advanced academic and non-academic research including qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
3. Advanced critical thinking, intellectual curiosity and independent judgement.

Assessment

Students for the Masters in Health Humanities are examined in two parts.

The first part is a thesis which is an original body of work representing the methods and results of the research project. The maximum word limit is 60,000 for the main text. The word limit does not include appendices (if any), essential footnotes, introductory parts and statements or the bibliography and index.

The second part is an oral examination (viva voce).